Interviews

1. From the "middle" Nikkei (Spanish)

2. Growing up with some Japanese families (Spanish)

3. The various realities of Nikkei in Latin America (Spanish)

4. The political effects on Nikkei during the war (Spanish)

5. Retaining Japanese customs (Spanish)

6. Advantages of being Nikkei (Spanish)

7. To be more Japanese than you really are (Spanish)

8. Nikkei vs. Nisei (Spanish)

Roberto Hirose

(b. 1950) Nisei Chilean, Businessman

From the "middle" Nikkei (Spanish)

(Spanish) Well, I’m from the “middle” Nikkei, as I always say. We can say there are Nikkei from the pre-war period. Then there are those who came immediately after the war. And then of course there are the more modern Nikkei. I’m from the second group, okay. In my case, you could say that I still feel a significant influence of old Japan in me. Because my grandparents, for example, were from the Meiji era, okay? So, you know, there’s something to that, right? Of course then my parents were from the Taisho era, so, you know, I have that influence as well. In any case, this influence, in spite of the fact that I was born immediately after the Second World War, uh…the influence is from the pre-war period: from the Japanese that went to Chile before the war. With Chile, there were very few Japanese that ended up there, because there was no immigration agreement between Japan and Chile. Because of that, perhaps the Nikkei in Chile are somewhat different from Nikkei in places where there were many Japanese immigrants. For example, I think that the biggest Japanese influence we were able to receive came from our parents or grandparents, and not, for example, from a Japanese school or language institute that might have given us a different perspective, right?

Chile identity immigration Nikkei United States

Date: October 7, 2005

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Ann Kaneko

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Roberto Hirose was born in Quillota, Chile on August 8, 1950. He spent his childhood in an agricultural environment where he met a variety of the local Japanese in Chile. He attended school in Quillota and later in Copiapó. In Copiapó, he had the opportunity to meet people from Japan who had come to the mining area of Chile for work. He studied electrical engineering at La Universidad de Chile, in Santiago (1968-1973). Subsequently, he was awarded a six month scholarship by the Ministerio de Educación de Japón to study Japanese at the University of Foreign Languages in Osaka, and research electrical engineering at the University of Hiroshima for one year. For over a decade, Roberto worked in the machinery department at Mitsui Chile Ltda. In 1986, he worked at Industrias Vinycon (as a manufacturer of industrial fishing materials). In 2002, he managed the diversification of Vinycon in northern Chile, specifically in Caldera, where he directed an agricultural center for the cultivation of abalone. In regards to Nikkei activities in Chile, Roberto actively participated in the Sociedad Japonesa de Beneficencia from 1968 to 1986. Afterwards, he became involved with the Corporación Nikkei de la Región de Valparaíso (formerly the Agrupación Nikkei de Valparaíso) of which he is still a part of today. (May 2, 2007)